that many times, a group of things that seem pretty similar

at first glance upon close inspection turns out to be nothing
of the sort? I’m talking about things like Star Trek versus
Star Wars fans (Star Trek is science fiction, Star Wars is
fantasy, dammit!), computer geeks versus physics geeks
(hint: physics geeks wear shoes more often).
And so it is with meat loaf, sausages, and hamburgers. I
mean, all three are made of seasoned and cooked ground
meat. How different can they be? Plenty different! Here,
we’re going to discuss the travesty of sticking a small patty-
shaped meat loaf in a bun and calling it a hamburger. What
you’ve got there is not a hamburger, it’s a meat loaf
sandwich.

Just so we’re all on the same page here, let’s go through a
few definitions. These are the three great pillars that support
ground-meat cuisine and lift it to magnificent heights. Don’t
worry if you don’t quite understand everything yet—all will
be revealed.

• A hamburger is a patty of pure ground beef with no salt,
  seasonings, flavorings, or additives of any kind mixed into
  it. It can be cooked any number of ways, but key to its
  production is that salt and pepper should go only on the
  exterior, and we’ll see why later. Its texture should be
  loose, tender, and juicy.


• A sausage is ground meat to which enough salt has been
  added (about 1.5 percent of the weight of the meat) that